Taming the Beast

Taming the Beast
by Emily Maguire
List Price: $13.95

Book Description:

Sarah Clark is seduced by her English teacher, Daniel Carr, and becomes entangled in an illegal and violent affair. Mid-semester, Carr splits leaving Sarah ripped to pieces. Devastated, Sarah has as many one-night-stands she can. Then, seven years later, Carr unexpectedly returns and Sarah is drawn again into a destructive relationship. Lolita meets Wuthering Heights meets Nine and a Half Weeks (yes--really).


Media Reviews:

Sydney Morning Herald Review: "Emily Maguire embodies the great romantic myth of the writer who emerges from nowhere, fully formed."

Kirkus Reviews: "Powerful and compelling."

My Review:

What if Humbert Humbert left Lolita mid-mind-fuck--what would happen to little Lo? Would her definition of love always involve pain? Would she try to recreate that obsessive passion with every dick she met to fill the gaping hole Humbert left inside her? What would she do if he came back? Would she rip herself in two to be with him? This book explores the questions Nabokov asks us in Lolita and explored throughout his literary career.

The ending was a bit pedestrian but overall a strong meditation on the power of our first relationships and how they can destroy us.